Luna Park was one of several names for an amusement park that existed in Rexford, New York

Rexford, New York

Rexford is a hamlet in Saratoga County, New York, USA, located on the north bank of the Mohawk River.Rexford is in the Town of Clifton Park, near the southwest town line. Its boundaries, like those of neighboring Alplaus, are unofficial and necessarily vague. To the south, it is bounded by the...

, near Schenectady

Schenectady, New York

Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...

, from 1901 to 1933. In addition to Luna Park (the name given by developer/entrepreneur Frederick Ingersoll

Frederick Ingersoll

Frederick Ingersoll was an inventor, designer, and builder who created the world's first chain of amusement parks and whose manufacturing company built 277 roller coasters, fueling the popularity of trolley parks in the first third of the Twentieth Century...

 when he added rides and assumed control of Rexford Park in 1906), it was also known as Dolle's Park (named after Fred Dolle, who bought the park from Ingersoll in 1912), Colonnade Park, Palisades Park, and (again) Rexford Park (in 1916) before the rides were dismantled in 1933. Constructed around the Grand View Hotel (built and opened by Jacob Rupert in 1901), the park was similar to Ingersoll's other Luna Parks in which it was a trolley park

Trolley park

In the United States, trolley parks, which started in the 19th century, were picnic and recreation areas along or at the ends of streetcar lines in most of the larger cities. These were precursors to amusement parks. These trolley parks were created by the streetcar companies to give people a...

 with roller coaster

Roller coaster

The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...

s, picnic

Picnic

In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...

 pavilion

Pavilion

In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...

s, carousel

Carousel

A carousel , or merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders...

s, a fun house, a roller rink

Roller skating

Roller skating is the traveling on smooth surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation. Skates generally come in two basic varieties: quad roller skates and inline skates or blades, though some have experimented with a...

, a concert

Concert

A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...

 shell, a dance hall

Dance hall

Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...

, a midway

Midway (fair)

A midway at a fair is the location where amusement rides, entertainment and fast food booths are concentrated....

, a Whip

The Whip (ride)

The Whip was a ride originally designed and built by W.F. Mangels Company of Coney Island, New York, USA. William F. Mangels patented the ride in 1914 and it soon became an extremely popular ride....

, and a shoot-the-chutes

Shoot-the-Chutes

Shoot-the-Chutes is an amusement ride consisting of a flat-bottomed boat that slides down a ramp or inside a flume into a lagoon. Unlike a log flume, a Shoot-the-Chutes generally has larger boats and one single drop....

 ride which presented itself at the park entrance adjacent to a station of the Van Vranken electric trolley line. Roughly seven decades before the Skycoaster

Skycoaster

Skycoaster, most commonly also named Ripcord or Xtreme SkyFlyer , is an amusement park ride, produced and managed by Skycoaster, Inc....

 rides that now dot various United States amusement parks, Luna/Rexford Park featured an aerial swing ride.

The trolley line charged its passengers five cents each for the trip to the park, but the park did not have an admission charge.

The Schenectady Luna Park lasted longer than most of Ingersoll's Luna Parks. Ingersoll's shaky finances (he was in bankruptcy

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 court twice between 1908 and 1911) forced him to sell the popular park to Dolle in 1912. Four years (and three name changes) later, new management changed its name one last time, to Rexford Park. Unlike most amusement parks of the first decade of the 20th century, Luna/Rexford Park was still standing after the return of the U. S. military from participation in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. In 1925, the Grand View Hotel was destroyed by a fire, but the park stayed open for the season. The popularity of the park declined in the face of the onset of the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, forcing the dismantling of the park's rides in 1933.